Shadow and Naruto: Two Souls, One Path Volume 4
by Leapingspirit
Summary: the final show down between Shadow and Walkingdeath. a bit sad at the end. r&r no flames t for obvious reasons no pairings. warning: character death, so just bare with me, k?
1. Training

Shadow and Naruto: Two Souls, One Path Volume Four 

The Final Battle

Chapter 1- The Mission

Naruto's POV

"ARRGG!!!" sweet bagezas! So much for a quiet morning. Shadow has been having nervous breakdowns a lot lately for some reason. All he does is wander aimlissly and stare off into space, as though he is thinking about something important. Anyway, after he screeched like that, I was off the couch in my small living room, my tail fluffed up, and on the other side of the room in a single bound he scared me so damn bad. Walking into his small bedroom, I found him under his bed. Well partialy anyway. He was shaking in a way that made me think he was looking for something.

"You ok? Shadow?" I asked.

"I'm fine! Just fine! Nothing wrong here!" he said in a cracked voice, pulling himself out from the bed with a small box. "Ah, here it is."

"What is it?"

"An ancient Kitsune Clan treasure that I keep with me at all times. The Kitsune Blood Drop. Its a red crystal orb with mystical powers. You know that empty spot at the end of the hilt of my sword?" I nodded. "Well, if you put it there, than it will increase the power of your attacks, and you will be able to defeat almost any enemy. Of course, you need extreme mental concentration to be able to use it. Something that you do not posses." I glared and stuck my tounge out at him.

"So why did you scream?" I swear that under his dark fur, that dumb old fox was blushing.

"I wasn't screaming." I didn't believe him. "Fine... fine. My nights have been plagued by nightmares, with each one getting worse. If they don't stop soon, I'll go insane! Or even more insane than I already am from hanging around you."

"Oh very funny! Now come on or we are going to be late." he quickly put the box down, changed into his human form and strapped on some wepons. Namely, his red daggers on his thighs, a shuriken pouch on his hip, a kuni pouch on his leg, and his sword on his back. I didn't know why he went so heavy duty with wepons, but to be honest, I didn't care. Anyway, he took out the crystal orb and attached it to the hilt of Black Kitsune Thunder. We set out, and met Sasuke-teme, who was now a neko hanyou with fuzzy ears and a fluffy tail, and Sakura waiting at the bridge for our ever late sensei.

-----------------Two Hours Later------------------

Still waiting.

-----------------Two More Hours Later---------------

"ARRRG!!! WHERE IN KAMI'S NAME IS HE?!!!" screamed Sakura. There was a distinct poof, and there was our perverted, perpetualy late sensei, Kakashi.

"YOU'RE LATE!!!" we all screamed, causing his hair to bend back.

"Maa, sorry everyone. A black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way around."

"LIAR!!!"

"Geez Kakashi. How lame can you get?" said Shadow, voicing all of our thoughts. He stepped over the fallen pervert and headed to the training grounds. When we got there, Gaara was there, for some reason.

"Hey! Gaara! What are doing here?" I asked. He looked twards us, and to our suprise, grinned a small grin.

"Kakashi-no-hentai here asked me to train with you guys to get used to training in the forest. I _am_ going to be living here from now on anyway." that's when we noticed the Konoha head band on his belt. I gave a small cheer and shook his hand happily, congratulating him. We separated into our sparing groups, Sasuke facing off against Kakashi-sensei, and me and Gaara against Shadow.

Gaara and I taking the opening move, we charged at the kitsune, and tried to land a couple of punches. He dodged easily, and drew one of the red daggers on his thigh, taking a slash at both of us. I leaped back to dodge, and Gaara's sand sprung up automaticly, even though he didn't have his gourd. Shadow spun around with another slash, but with a cry of **"Kueagaujingu! (arc air gouging)" **and managed to land a blow with the now glowing blade. The air seemed thinner after the attack, I guessed that it was because of the tequnique he used. Using the thin air to his advantage, Shadow sped through some hand signs that I didn't recognise and exclaimed **"Doton: Sudoriru! (earth syle: earth drill)" **and started to spin rapidly like Kiba does in his Sounga (sp?), but plowing into the ground and appearing again under me, sending me flying. Before I could recover, he appeared infront of me and threw a left hook at my jaw. (think what Naruto did to Neji) I smashed into the ground, creating a large crater. Strugling to get to my feet, i created several Shadow Clones, and they charged him, with a Rasengan (spiral sphere) powering up in my hand. Gaara meanwhile was attacking Shadow with some tequniques that he had learned, and his sand, but all attackes were being dodged. I snuck up behind Shadow and rammed the Rasengan into his side, only to have him disappear in a cloud of smoke. He reappeared behind me and kicked me hard in the back. I heard an exclamation of **"Zuiihenkei: Tsubasa! (optional transformation: wing)" **and was lifted into the air, and dropped on Gaara from a hight of fifty feet in the air. Shadow held a kuni to each of our throughts and said "Dead."

He let us up, and looked around to find Sasuke and Sakura tied up to a couple of trees and Kakashi-sensei reading his dirty books. "Good fight you two, but it was too easy to bring you down." said the kitsune. I noticed that he had dragon like wings sticking out of his back, and guessed that it was from the Zuiihenkei. They disappeared in a puff of smoke and we went over to the others. Sasuke-teme had his ears folded back in annoyance, and Sakura was trying to get free of the binds that held her to the tree. When we reached them, Kakashi-sensei untied them, and continued to read his book. Shadow sighed, and with a minor Katon (fire) jutsu, burned the book. The pervert fell to the ground sobbing. "Pathetic." we all said.

"Well, there's a good way to take him out in battles." Sasuke-teme said. We started to head home when Kakashi-sensei said:

"Hold you lot. We have a mission from Hokage-sama. It's A rank." I stopped with that. In about point nothing seconds, I had the scroll with the mission details in my hand, reading it rapidly.

"Finally! Something to show my stuff in!"

"What's the mission?" asked Sakura.

"An assasination. There is a demon fox roming around, killing off whole villages at one time." I noticed that Shadow had stiffened.

"Does it have a description of it?" he asked hesitently

"Yes. He's a gold-green color, with a black scar across one eye, from what this says. That sounds like..."

"Walkingdeath! Shit, not good! If he's in the area, than Runningtear is probaly near by too. We have to take them out before they can take out any more innocent people and give us kitsunes a bad name." I felt a familiar tug in my gut, and Kyuubi appeared in a puff of smoke in a jumbled heap like he normaly does when Shadow summons him.

"Why do you insist on doing that?" he asked in an eirily calm voice.

"Did you listen in on the conversation?" Kyuubi nodded. "That saves me an explination, lets go. We have to take that asshole out before it's too late." there was a troubled look on Shadow's face, as though he was anticipating something bad. I shrugged it off, and we made our way swiftly to the village gates.

_**Ohhh a cliffhanger. Sorry it was short, but it was meant to be so. I'll update soon.**_

_**Naruto: Spirit does not own me or any other Naruto characters.**_

_**Shadow: But she does own me, Walkingdeath-teme, Runningtear-teme and all other Ocs.**_

_**Ja!**_


	2. Orders

Shadow and Naruto: Two Souls, One Path Volume 4 

Ch. 2

_Recap: "Why do you insist on doing that?" he asked in an eirily calm voice._

_"Did you listen in on the conversation?" Kyuubi nodded. "That saves me an explination, lets go. We have to take that asshole out before it's too late." there was a troubled look on Shadow's face, as though he was anticipating something bad. I shrugged it off, and we made our way swiftly to the village gates._

Two hours of running later-

"So... tired." I moaned.

"Suck it up you. Its not far now." Shadow replied.

"What's not far Shadow?" asked Sakura. Shadow looked at her carefuly.

"The entrance to the demon relm. We need to get there so that I can send out some squads to patrol the area. Kakashi stayed behind for a reason, he is known as the demon slayer in the demonic relm, and it would be dangerous for him to go there."

"Oh. That makes sense."

One hour later-

Shadow stopped infront of a large boulder and put his hand gingerly on it. "Kai!" the boulder disappeared and in its place was a large door. It had a majestic thresh hold, painted green, and the double doors were a super dark blue. He pushed the doors open, and motioned to us to walk in. The sight that greeted us when we were through nearly took my breath away. We were standing on a hill overlooking a huge village. It was at least three times the size of Konoha, and everything was over sized.

Shadow started forward, and stopped at the gates. A furry head poked over the gates, and looked down at us.

"Ah, Lord Shadow, you're back!" bellowed the brown fox.

"Yes Thistle, now open the gates." yelled the black kitsune. The gates emeidiatly swung open, and we walked inside. After a few minuetes of walking, Shadow stopped at a huge building, opening the doors. He stepped inside and we followed, looking around at all the other demons around us. Shadow disappeared behind a door, and I pressed my ear against it. This is what I heard:

"Yes I know... but... the boy is stronger then he looks. I want him to lead one of the scouting squads, and I will have no arguments."

"Of course Lord Shadow, but what about the others?"

"The neko-hanyou can be second in comand with squad 3, should the scouts find him. Then the one with pink hair will join Sapphire on the medical team. Kyuubi will gather the troops and relay any orders that I give to them."

"What about you Lord?"

"I'll lead one squad of assasins."

"Sure thing. I will asign the squad leaders. Will Master Cyrus be leading one?"

"Yes. I also want him to post one third of the guard outside the village gates in case we have to fall back. And keep and eye on Nightrun. I understand that she is my neice, but I think that she is involved in Walkingdeath's plot."

"But sir, Nightrun disappeared a month ago, along with Thorn. We haven't been able to track them down."

"I see, well, no matter. Carry out my orders before sundown. And Smog... asign the genin their rooms while you're at it. I don't want them fighting over who gets what room."

"Yes sir." I heard footsteps, and hastily stepped back and tried to act as though I hadn't been eavsdropping. Shadow stepped out, followed by the one he named as Smog. He was an old looking, pale gray kitsune, a little shorter than me. He nodded respectfuly to us, and went back the way we came. Shadow looked insanly displeased.

"When all this is over, you get to take over Kyuu. I can't take this much more." he said to Kyuubi, who chuckled.

"You know the rules. A kitsune can only be leader of a Clan after they gain their tenth tail. I have at least one-hundred years to go." Shadow grumbled a reply and walked away. Kyuubi led us in the opposite direction.

"Why are we going this way?" asked Sasuke-teme.

"Well, he's probaly going into the forest to let off some steam. That's what he always does after he gives orders like that."

"Oh. So, where are we going?" I could tell by the look on his face, he didn't like to be around Kyuu like this. He knew how strong he was.

"I'm going to get ahead and get you some rooms, then show you guys around. I have a feeling that we will be here a while."

The next day-

A feirce pounding woke me up. I grogily shouted my permision to enter. A pale orange fox shot in the room, panting.

"My name is Flamestrom. Lord Shadow asked me to acompany you to the council." I nodded, and quickly got dressed. Flamestrom led me down several corridors, to a large golden door. He nodded, and dropped back.

Pushing open the door, I heard the voice of the brown fox from yesterday. His voice was hesitent.

"But... sir... the code..."

"HANG THE CODE!!! AND HANG YOU TOO!!!" Shadow bellowed angrily. The brown fox flinched, and folded his ears back. Shadow closed his eyes, and sighed deeply to calm himself. "I will not give Walkingdeath the chance to harm anymore innocent demons, or humans. KYUUBI!!!"

"Yes Shadow?"

"Find Cyrus. I must speak to him."

"Of course." Kyuubi disappeared as I walked in. I took a seat next to the spot where a beautiful golden kitsune queen was sitting. There was a poof of smoke, and when it cleared, Kyuubi was sitting in his spot next to Shadow again, and Cyrus was behind his father.

"You wanted to see me father?" I glanced to the kitsune queen when I heard a sniffle. There were thin streaks of tears running down the sides of her face.

I heard her whisper, "Shadow... what has become of you? You used to be so kind." Shadow's voice bruoght my attention back to him.

"Take eight squads out and search for that traitor."

"Understood father."

"Post five outside the village as backup should we need to fall back.When you find him, relay a message back to me or Kyuubi, but... don't stop until you find him."

"Understood."

"I'll prepare the troops bro." Kyuubi said.

"Ok. Naruto!" he nearly made me jump out of my seat.

"Yeah?"

"You and Sasuke will each join one of the squads, you being the leader of one. Sakura, you will go with the medical squad lead by Sapphire." the golden kitsune next to me perked up. _'She must be Sapphire.' _I thought. "I will lead an assasination squad. There will be five total, all fanning out in every direction. But, if you find Walkingdeath, don't touch him, he's mine." the kitsunes in the room nodded, and disappeared.

_**Well, there's chappie 2. Sorry it took so long for me to update. Chappie 3 will be up soon. R&R**_

_**I own nothing.** _


	3. Fight!

Shadow and Naruto: Two Souls, One Path Volume 4 

Chapter 3- Fight!

Warning: Character Death, but they come back in another story.

3rd person

Off in the distance, Shadow heard a howl of war and emeidiatly raced tward it. When his squad reached the scene of the battle, the kitsunes behind him gulped and shivered at the huge mass of demons before them. "Steady boys. Don't let their numbers fool you, with out orginazation, an army is nothing." he whispered to his squad. He charged into battle, the kitsunes following bravly. The special assasins took out great numbers at one time when they attacked, moving with a grace that only a kitsune could posses.

Naruto and Sasuke were having a hard time mean while. Just as a gargoyle demon was about to smash Naruto's head in, a flash of black appeared, almost blinding him. When it disappeared, the gargoyle was missing the top half of his body.

Sasuke had to refrain from hissing and spitting on several occations whenever he was sliced by claw or sword. He used his claws to cut down any demon in his path, as well as his jutsu and Sharingan. He was about to be knocked down from behind, but something barreled into his side and demolished the ogre that was about to bring its club crashing down on his head. Sasuke looked back to see Kyuubi standing in his place, twirling a long dagger expertly. "Thanks." he breathed, racing back into the battle.

Shadow had already located Runningtear and was battling him. He used his sword to hold him down, and growled at him. "You know, you would have made a promising solider." he hissed at the red fox.

"Bite me you ancient lump of fur!" he snarled back. Shadow rose up and brought his sword down, straight through the traitors heart. The black fox had time to snort before he was knocked down by Walkingdeath and run through by a dagger. He coughed up blood and stagered to the side. Glaring at Walkingdeath, he snarled and lunged, fangs bared and claws ready.

They rolled several times, clawing and snapping at each other. Walkingdeath scored his claws across Shadow's side, and bit down on his neck, making the other kitsune snarl again in pain. Shadow used his greater size and streagth to flip the traitor over, running his claws across his belly. Blood poured out of the gash, but the gold-green fox staggered to his feet.

Naruto had raced to where Shadow was, following his scent carefuly. Peering through the bushes, he noticed that Runningtear was lying on the ground with Shadow's sword through his chest. Shadow was no where to be seen. Then the hanyou felt a heavy wheight land on his shoulders, and let out a startled scream as he was lifted into the air.

"Relax hatchling. I'm an aly." he heard a deep voice say. Glancing up, he saw a dark brown dragon holding his shoulders with his front paws. His name was Spinx, and he had brought the ranks of the Dragon Clan to help in the war. He placed Naruto down in a tree near Shadow's battle and flew off. Naruto's eyes widened in horror as he saw that they were slowly getting closer to a deep fast flowing gorge. The water in it was colder than ice, and the swift current would carry you down stream faster than you could blink.

Shadow seemed to notice this too, as he was desperatly trying to push Walkingdeath back to the forest. He didn't have time to do jutsu between slashes and snaps from Walkingdeath, he couldn't even do a substitution with out his head being taken off. Walkingdeath's strong suit was speed, Shadow's was power, and Walkingdeath was using his speed to over power the older fox.

Said fox already had three broken ribs, a fractured spine, and he was loosing blood fast. His left eye was sealed shut with dried blood, and he was weakening. Naruto knew that he would just get in the way if he tried to help, but then he thought of something that he himself had never learned. Never let your enemy get behind you. He snickered and created several shadow clones, sneaking out of the bushes to Walkingdeath. Drawing kunai, they threw them at the gold-green fox, hitting their target—his spine. Walkingdeath howled in agony, and whirled around to face Naruto. Shadow saw his opertunity and leaped onto Walkingdeath's already injured back.

Bitting down hard on his neck, Shadow held on tightly to Walkingdeath's side, focasing what little energy he had left into killing the traitor. But said traitor reared up onto his hind legs, throwing Shadow off, causing him to roll over the side of the gorge. Naruto was about to call out, but he stopped when a large black paw gripped the side of the cliff, another followed soon, but with his injured back, Shadow couldn't pull himself back up.

Walkingdeath smirked and stalked slowly up to the struggling fox. He stepped down hard on Shadow's paw, causing him to cry out in pain. "Well, looks like the you're still weak. You are going to die today dearest cousin."

Shadow grunted and pulled himself up some more. "If I'm going down...grunt... you're going down with me." he panted. He grabbed Walkingdeath's leg in his mouth, and pushed off hard on the side of the gorge, taking himself and Walkingdeath down into the torent of water.

"SHADOW!!! NO!!!" screamed Naruto. He ran to the side of the gorge, searching for any sign of the black fox, but he didn't see so much as a hair of him. Naruto flinched and covered his eyes as a bright flash of light shot up into the sky, disappearing an instant later.

"Naruto!" called Sasuke from the edge of the forest. "Come on, we need you in the battle!" the neko hanyou had caught up to Naruto in time to see Shadow and Walkingdeath plunge over the edge of the gorge. But they would mourn later, right now, they needed to finish the war before it got out of hand. Naruto raced to the other boy, his eyes glistening with tears, and nodded as he stopped in front of him.

The blonde turned back once, and gasped as he saw a transparent Shadow, sitting on the edge of the gorge, a warm smile on his face. The spirit opened his mouth and mouthed 'go on... this is your time to shine.' before fading away into nothingness. Naruto shook himself and raced back into the battle.

--Two Days Later--

The war was finaly over. Naruto had ended it by using his rasengan to blow up half the area and demolish all but a dozen demons. When the prisoners were brought to Kyuubi, the guards asked what to do with them, to which the nine-tails coldly replied: "There are no prisoners." The remaining demons were killed on the spot. The crimson fox asked what had happened to Shadow, which Naruto told him solomly. When he finished, Kyuubi was trying to hold back tears. He emeidiatly ordered a search along the river for either of them.

_**Depressing I know. Next chappie—and final—will be up sooner than you think.**_


	4. Search

Shadow and Naruto: Two Souls, One Path Volume 4 

Chapter 4- Search

Warning: This one is a bit sad too, just bare with me.

Kyuubi POV

"Find him! I don't care if it kills you! Just find him!" I bellowed. I could feel a tight pain in my chest as I felt my connection with my only brother slip away. I wasn't ready—let alone old enough—to lead the Clan... Shadow had to be alive. Nothing would kill him that easily. Then again, Naruto said that, even with his black fur, he looked pale, and it looked like he was having trouble breathing and walking.

"Damn." I swore. "I hope he's alright." I holwled and punched a boulder as hard as I could, making it shatter into a million pieces.

"Kyuu, calm down." Naruto said. "You'll kill yourself at this rate." I looked at him, and stiffled a gasp at the hollow look in his eyes. I had only seen that twice—when he thought that Sasuke had died in the battle with Haku, and when the Third died. "I-I saw his spirit on the edge of the gorge before I went back to the battle." he whispered quietly. "He... he smiled in a way that made me think that he was happy to die... like all of his troubles had been lifted... like he was at peace. H-He has to be alive... I have to belive that." he sniffed and turned away, but not before I saw tears welling up in his eyes.

"Naruto, whatever happened to him, he'll always be with us, one way or another. He concidered you a son you know. He knew what he was doing when he went over that gorge with that traitorous bastard." _'I hope.'_

_'I heard that.' _Naruto shot back bitterly through our mental link. "Face it Kyuubi, he might not be in this world any more! You told me about that gorge. No one has ever gone over it and come out alive... and Shadow was already weakened, there is no way he's still alive. And I saw his spirit, what more can you ask for to proove that he's gone!" Naruto chocked and turned away, running back to the village.

I heard footsteps behind me, and turned to see Sapphire padding up to me. "Hi, Sapphire." I greeted. She looked at me with sad eyes and smiled weakly.

"Hello Kyuubi. The boys right. There is no way that he could have made it through that fall. I don't know what it is, but I feel this strange emptyness in my heart, as though the thing that I care about the most is gone." she said in a tired voice.

"You still love him, don't you?" she nodded and turned away.

"How is Cyrus going to take this? His father was everything to him, and now..." she broke off and shook her head, as though dismissing a thought. "I-I have to go, there are many to attend to." she nodded in farewell and raced off in the direction of the imfermery, leaving me alone again.

I scratched my head and took off after Naruto, hoping to catch him before he did something reckless—again. He tended to be careless when he was at emotional peaks, and not under my influence. Skidding to a stop, I rolled my eyes and transported to his location. He was sitting in a tree, by a stream, his knees bent up to his chest. When I reached out to put my hand on his shoulder, he shook with a violent convoultoin. He was crying.

"Naruto? Are you ok?" I asked gently. He glanced at me through the corner of his eye and sniffled again.

"Does it look like it?" he asked bitterly, glaring at the stream to out left. "I just wish that none of this ever happened, and that I never met him. That way, I wouldn't be feeling this sickening pain in my heart." he rested his head on his bent knees and closed his eyes for a second.

"Don't say that. If you had never met him, you would have never had all of those adventures. You wouldn't be a hanyou, and you woudn't have gained the respect of the entire village—here and back home. With out Shadow, you might not have been one step closer to being Hokage." I glanced at him, then at the stream. "What was that flash of light a couple days ago?" I asked.

"I don't know, but not long after, I saw Shadow's spirit. Kyuu, where do demons go after they die?" I winced and turned my head away when he looked at me.

"A-All demons and half-demons, good or bad go straight to Hell when they die. But there is said to be an exit. Problem is, you have to be stupid, crazy, or very brave to reach it because its in the farthest and darkest reaches of Hell." Naruto looked horrified at the thought of going to that horrible place when he died. I chuckled good naturedly and put my hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, I know Shinigami. I'll make sure that's not were you end up."

"Then, if Shadow really is gone, can you convince Shinigami to bring him back?" he asked hopefully. I shook my head and sighed.

"Unfourtunetly no. I can only ask him not to send people that I truly care about to the firey pits, not to bring people back. That was our agreement. You see, he lost a bet, and that was the agreement that he had put on the stakes. Sorry Naruto." I turned my red eyes to the darkening skies and smiled slightly. "Come on, let's get back. We don't want to be wandering the forest all night." Naruto nodded and we leaped out of the tree, and started to walk in the direction of the village.

----OXO----

Shadow's body was never found. Though some say that at night, if you look carefully, you will see a dark figure appear then disappear, or blood red eyes flashing at night. There have even been some accounts where when an innocent person was being robbed or attacked in the village of Konoha, something would scare the assalents away, and lead the victims home. They never got a good look at it, but glowing red eyes and the frame of a large fox is what they were able to make out.

Shadow, my brother, I hope that you return home soon. There are many who miss you, and want you to be alive so badly. Naruto feels a pain in his heart every day, as do I. All of the Rookie 9 and the others long to see you again, you are sorely missed.

_**Well that was a happy chapter. Hehe, hope you enjoyed the Shadow and Naruto saga! Keep a look out for The Kitsune's Eye, the follow up to the series. Ja!**_


End file.
